2025 nuclear weapons spending reaches $119 billion
Baku, June 9, AZERTAC
According to new research released today by International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), in 2025, the nine nuclear-armed states spent $16.8 billion (19%) more on their nuclear arsenals than the year before, a total of $119 billion, or $3,768 per second on nuclear weapons.
The United States had the biggest increase from 2024- 2025, at $12.4 billion, and spent more than all of the other nuclear-armed states combined, at $69.2 billion. China remained second, at $13.5 billion, and the United Kingdom came in third, spending $12.6 billion.
Across the board, nuclear-armed states are making plans to retain their arsenals for decades to come. Several nuclear-armed states have published nuclear weapons spending projections of tens of billions or even past $1 trillion for the next decade or several decades. And all nuclear-armed states have weapons systems that will remain operational at least until 2050, if not until the next century.
In 2025, at least 25 companies working on nuclear weapons development and maintenance held significant contracts for their work. These companies earned at least $38 billion in the year for nuclear weapons related activities and hold at least $394 billion in outstanding contracts. In 2025, new contracts worth around $2.5 billion were awarded to these companies. The companies identified in this report paid lobbyists in France and the United States more than $138 million to represent their interests last year. They also had 226 meetings with high-level UK officials including 4 with the Prime Ministers’ office in 2025.
While nine nuclear-armed countries spent $119 billion in 2025 on weapons of mass destruction, 99 countries have now signed, ratified or acceded to the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), banning all nuclear weapons activities and committing to work towards their destruction.
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